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thetopher

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The reason your Columbia shirt has a tiny pocket near your waistline (2019)

marketplace.org
132 points·by thetopher·hace 2 años·59 comments

Islam and Cats

en.wikipedia.org
5 points·by thetopher·hace 2 años·4 comments

Austin Google workers learned of layoffs as City Council prepped public support

austinmonitor.com
2 points·by thetopher·hace 2 años·0 comments

Ask HN: Is it possible to verify the source used to compile a mobile app?

1 points·by thetopher·hace 2 años·1 comments

Salad the Silent Killer (1988) [pdf]

baghwallah.files.wordpress.com
6 points·by thetopher·hace 3 años·2 comments

Phosphorus Saved Our Way of Life–and Now Threatens to End It

newyorker.com
1 points·by thetopher·hace 3 años·0 comments

Backyard Ballistics

backyard-ballistics.com
67 points·by thetopher·hace 4 años·26 comments

comments

thetopher
·hace 5 meses·discuss
I just resized my browser window, so the bottom of the window is above the GIF, but below the NEXT button.
thetopher
·el año pasado·discuss
Sounds like they were following some advice from “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by separating the business groups.
thetopher
·hace 2 años·discuss
Is not just the meat industry. Dairy cows eat silage too.

Everything I know about silage I learned from watching 10th Generation Dairyman on YouTube. As somebody who loves learning about the tedious details of other people’s professions, I highly recommend this channel.

https://youtube.com/@10thgenerationdairyman61
thetopher
·hace 2 años·discuss
This looks like a scam. They’re asking for $5k - 20k individual donations for a statue that (according to the supposed sculptor’s website) will only cost $6,000.

https://www.monumentallabs.co/commissions

Why are they asking for so much money?

Also, the website claims that donations are tax-deductible, but there’s no mention of a registered non-profit organization.

No transparency. So many questions.
thetopher
·hace 2 años·discuss
“Our basic philosophy when it comes to security is that we can trust our developers and that we can trust the private network within the cluster.”

This is not my area of expertise. Does it add a significant amount of complexity to configure this kind of system in a way that doesn’t require trusting the network? Where are the pain points?
thetopher
·hace 2 años·discuss
I wonder if he realizes that his behavior (substantiated by compelling evidence) was “grotesque”.
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
I wonder what would happen if they published a list of all their users who are not currently under surveillance, or gave them a nice little icon. I feel like somebody tried this before, but my Google searches are coming up empty.
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
Directly below the paragraph about Alcoholics Anonymous was an advertisement for Absolut Vodka. Hmmmm.
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
Article by Jeffrey Steingarten. He’s a wonderful food writer with two books that I highly recommend to anybody who has ever been called a foodie.
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
Great point. It’s never occurred to me until now, but Amdahl’s Law has great application here.

I never want to be the “weak link” in the chain, but overworking myself to deliver my piece in a large project usually has negligible impact, if any. Usually it just ends up providing buffer for other teams that end up using more time.
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
I don’t know if these are good examples. Money and electricity both have inherent liabilities that don’t seem to translate to stock. At the end of the day, cash has to be transported and stored somewhere. Negative interest rates can be used to effectively pay somebody else to store your cash. A similar situation has happened with oil prices going negative.

Negative electric rates could be used to increase load on a grid that would otherwise be generating too much electricity.

Is there any kind of liability that comes with owning stock in a company? I don’t see any motivation to ever pay for somebody to take ownership of your stock.
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
Here are two lectures about Blood Meridian from a Yale literature course.

https://youtu.be/FgyZ4ia25gg

https://youtu.be/7ZFmf4T5L3o
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
One approach to solving this problem would be a mass distribution of fake courtesy cards. I wonder if the NYPD has an effective way of verifying that a person has a real card that they received from a real cop.
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
In case anybody is looking for the link for discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36002808
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
(2021)
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
Same here.

Filtering by price is a frustrating experience when the service and cleaning fees aren’t factored into the prices I’m looking at. It’s more work than it needs to be to compare prices in areas with lots of listings.
thetopher
·hace 3 años·discuss
This isn’t true in California, and I don’t think it’s generally true in other states either.

A fired employee is still eligible for unemployment as long as they were not fired because of specific misconduct. Poor performance does not constitute misconduct. Misconduct must be “willful and wanton.” (Regularly missing work or being late, stealing, fighting with coworkers, etc.)

The CA guidelines are long, but contain some useful examples and guiding principles: https://edd.ca.gov/en/uibdg/Misconduct_MC_5/
thetopher
·hace 4 años·discuss
In high school, I had a friend that printed out a copy and put all the pages into a binder. Another friend and I had borrowed the binder, and flipped through it one day to pass the time during health class. The following day, our teacher came over and crouched at our desks to talk to us. She said that she has found a piece of paper with instructions on how to make a bomb, and she has given the paper to the principal. She told us that we weren’t in any trouble, but that we were never to bring anything like that to school ever again.

I also remember another friend writing an essay for English class, and then reading it aloud in class, recounting his experience building and detonating a “pipe bomb” in his backyard using gunpowder and a mayonnaise jar.

Different times. (This was 1996-1997)
thetopher
·hace 4 años·discuss
I just can’t watch Rossmann’s videos anymore. He’s a smart guy with important things to say, but it’s hard to take him seriously. His videos are 90% hyperbole, cynicism, and snide remarks. It’s too much to put up with to figure out what he’s really trying to say. I have to wonder if this style appeals to his audience, or if he’d be more effective without it.
thetopher
·hace 4 años·discuss
I recently found this book in a used bookstore. I wish I had owned a copy when I was a kid. I’m thinking about giving one to my nephew, but I’m not sure what his parents would think.